Captain America: The Winter Solidertakes place two years after The Avengersfilm and Steve Rogers a.k.a Captain America (Chris Evans) is still adjusting to life after being defrosted. Rogers has the tendency to visit the Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian to reminisce about the old days with his then best friend Bucky Barnes, old gal Peggy Carter and his earlier days as Captain America. While jogging around the Reflecting Pool in Washington D.C., Rogers does several laps passed Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), an Armed Forces veteran. After a short chat between Wilson and Rogers of their memories from their time on duty and the struggle it was getting used to the civilian life after, Rogers is summoned for a Special Ops mission that involves Natasha Romanoff a.k.a Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and other S.H.I.E.L.D. members liberating a S.H.I.E.L.D cargo ship from French pirate Georges Batroc (Georges St-Pierre). But before Rogers leaves, Wilson recommends Rogers to add Marvin Gaye’s 1972 album Trouble Manto his “To-Do” list of things to help him catch up on things he missed out while he was frozen.

The mission was simple and task force had no problem rescuing the hostages nor taking down Batroc and his men but Colonel Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) fails to reveal the full mission to Rogers, sending Black Widow to retrieve valuable S.H.I.E.L.D intel from the ship’s computer as an effort to keep things secretive. Rogers accidentally finds out about Black Widow’s secret mission while fighting Batroc and is automatically upset that he has been kept in the dark and confronts Fury about it. Fury reveals to Rogers about ‘Project Insight’, a plan to launch three S.H.I.E.L.D helicarriers that can safely counterpoise any present or future threat from the air. Project Insight hits a roadblock as Fury is unable to access the S.H.I.E.L.D intel that Black Widow retrieved from the ship and Fury immediately asks Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford), an old friend and member of the World Security Council, to convince the other members to delay the launch while he investigates the problem. As Fury leaves the S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters, he is attacked by men who are all disguised as police officers. Fury takes a lot of damage but is able to kill and outwit most of the disguised officers but runs into a new enemy, ‘The Winter Soldier’ (Sebastian Stan). Fury was able to escape before the Winter Soldier got his hands on him, noticing enough of the new enemy’s strength to know that he was a threat.

With S.H.I.E.L.D being compromised, Fury goes to the only person he can trust and hides out at Rogers’ apartment. But not even Rogers’ apartment is safe as The Winter Soldier finds Fury instantly and finishes the mission he was assigned and kills him. Before Rogers goes after Fury’s killer, Fury tells him with his final breath to ‘trust no one’, putting Rogers at odds with Pierce and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. This then forces Rogers and Black Widow to go on the run and seek refuge from Wilson – who later reveals what he really did in the Armed Forces by revealing his Falcon suit – in order to get to the bottom of this conspiracy.

Marvel Studios has done it once again and set a new bar when it comes to releasing superhero films. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is easily the best Marvel film since The Avengers.The film doesn’t touch just one genre as you get a mixture of a spy movie, action-adventure and some pretty intense drama not only between characters but also with the government. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo did an amazing job with the pacing of the film despite being packed with so many genres. Even the parts of the script that didn’t directly connect to the plot did an amazing job adding depth to characters, which is shown through Rogers’ trouble with fitting into the modern times. The times might have changed and catching up to it has been a problem for Captain America but one thing that hasn’t changed is his morals and his willingness to fight for what he believes in even if it means going against his own country. Even the humor that was intertwined throughout the film was implemented in a better fashion than it was in Iron Man 3.

As for the actors, everyone did a superb job. I was initially on the fence with Anthony Mackie playing Falcon but his banter with Rogers in the beginning of the film was a great introduction to the character and made me feel more at ease with the casting decision. Scarlett Johansson once again was amazing as Black Widow. As for Chris Evans, he has forever imprinted his name to Captain America the same way Hugh Jackman, Robert Downey Jr., and Christian Bale have done with their superhero characters. Even though Sebastian Stan did not have many lines as the Winter Soldier, his action sequences were enough, as the final bout between him and Captain America showed a humanistic relationship between two enemies.

Captain America: The Winter Soldierdeserves a FULL movie experience from viewers. Meaning, go to the theaters during opening weekend and pay top dollar to see the film on the biggest screen and format your theater has to offer. You will truly not be disappointed. And before you stand up to leave, make sure you stay seated as there are TWO post credit scenes in which you do not want to miss out on.

Rating: 10/10

Side Note: The ‘T0-D0′ List that is shown towards the beginning of the film is actually different in different countries.